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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The Joy of Cheesecake (adapted from the Swedish Cheesecake Pie recipe, with many changes)

Ingredients

- 9 inch Graham pie crust (960 cal)

- 2 cups/1 lb low fat cottage cheese (400 cal)

- 1/4 cup white flour (110 cal)

- 1/4 cup brown sugar (210 cal)

- 2 tbsp confections sugar (100 cal)

- 3 large eggs (210 cal)

- 1 cup low fat sour cream (300 cal)

- 1 tsp orange extract (10 cal)

- ground zest of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 grapefruit

For the Sour Cream topping

- 1 cup low fat sour cream (300 cal)

- 2 tbsp brown sugar (120 cal)

Total 2720 calories 8 servings, 340 cal / serving

Instructions

1. Place cottage cheese in a sieve or a cheese cloth and let drain for 2-3 hours, then blend in a blender until smooth.

2. Separate egg whites and yolks. Beat the egg whites. Once soft peaks form, add icing sugar and continue beating until hard peaks. Mix all other ingredients in no particular order and fold the mix into the egg whites.

3. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

4. Pour the mix into the ready crust.

5. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Increase the oven temperature to 450F and let preheat.

6. In the meantime, mix together the sour cream and 2 tbsp of sugar for the topping. Spread the topping on the warm cake and return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes.

7. Remove from the oven and let chill before serving. Can be served with a sauce (e.g., apple sauce).

Afterthoughts

- The cake is indeed very light, not too sweet and the citrusy flavor is mild and pleasant, but the cake had cracks when it rose after the initial 45 minutes in the oven, and then it sagged after cooling. Maybe I can use a little more flour (1/2 cup) next time? Or bake at a lower temperature for longer time and let cool in the oven?

- The original recipe did not call for separating the yolks and beating the egg whites. I suppose the cake would be a little less fluffy, but maybe it would be firmer and would sag and crack less. Should be easier to make also.